Bolton No Stranger To Elections

TAKING NAMES

If it looks like President Bush is backing his controversial nominee for United Nations ambassador like his job depended on it, well, back in 2000, it kind of did.

Unbeknownst to many, John Bolton was working for Bush in Florida during the infamous 2000 recount.

In fact, a then-much-lesser-known Bolton made his mark in Tallahassee when, as Newsweek reported, he burst into a Tallahassee library on a Saturday afternoon in December 2000 and proclaimed, "I'm with the Bush-Cheney campaign, and I'm here to stop the vote."

But Bolton was better known, at least by those who worked closest with him earlier in Palm Beach County, for something else: "He objected to every single ballot that wasn't for his candidate."

That's the word from canvassing-board chairman Judge Charles Burton, who added this week: "That's why I gave him the nickname The Conscientious Objector."

Keep in mind: The U.N. sometimes tries to ensure the sanctity of elections and democracy in countries around the world.

Aside from that whole please-don't-count-the-opposition's-ballots thing, though, Burton said that very little of the current controversy about Bolton being abrasive and antagonistic rings familiar. "I thought he was kind of a quiet guy," Burton said. "Very polite and professional."

Similar thoughts came from Barry Richard, who headed Bush's recount team that year. "What I read now," Richard said, "is not consistent with any of my experience with him."

Richard also said that he has seen enough former Bush recount lawyers pop up in administration jobs, that it rarely surprises him. "If anything," he said, "I was surprised at the number of people who didn't get positions."

While Bolton hasn't said much recently about his role in helping Bush get into the White House, he did write about his recount experience for the American Enterprise Institute, for which he worked at the time.

In that 2001 piece, Bolton marveled at the number of Democrats who cast improper ballots for Al Gore. In particular, he claimed that he personally found it impossible to cast a dimpled chad, saying, "I guess I just don't have what it takes to be a Democrat."

MAKING THE PITCH

Starting today, some of Central Florida's best-known pitchmen can be heard making pitches for someone else. In a marketing twist, WRDQ-Channel 27 has asked high-volume advertisers such as David Maus and John Morgan (left) to hype their syndicated comedies in radio ads. Maus, for instance, begins a supposedly typical spot for his Toyota dealership, only to break into a pitch for Martin. In Morgan's, the trial lawyer says, "There's nothing I face in the courtroom that can't be mastered by sitting down with a good episode of The Jamie Foxx Show." Station marketing director Bob St.Charles said he was just looking for a way to "cut through the clutter of sitcom spots on the radio." Mission: accomplished. Still, it's a bit hard to imagine Mr. "For the People" retiring to his Lake Mary mansion with Jamie Foxx on the tube. And he conceded as much: "Hardball with Chris Matthews? Maybe. PBS? Definitely. But Jamie Foxx? Only if they're paying me." Actually, what the station is giving the pitch folks is simply air time. But for these guys, that's as good as money.

NAME TAGS

Rap star Nelly, in town for a show at Hard Rock Live, took time out to ride the Hulk coaster at Universal's Islands of Adventure this week. Accompanying him at the park: Canadian music veejay Leah Miller.

The Orlando Ballet scored a coup when it announced the signing this week of Artistic Director Fernando Bujones to another three-year contract through the 2007-08 season. Aside from bolstering the company's artistic reputation, ballet reps say Bujones' tenure, which started in 2000, also saw the company's budget grow from $1.3 million to more than $3 million, all while operating in the black.

Local singer Cori Yarckin will soon find out whether her stint on reality TV will be any help in the music biz. Yarckin, who didn't last long on UPN's The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliott, is releasing her debut album Friday with a party at Back Booth downtown.

Talent scout Lou Pearlman has now officially made the Church Street Exchange history. As of last week, the shuttered entertainment complex that Pearlman took over received a new facade with the "Trans Continental" name, synonymous with boy bands, now greeting cars on Interstate 4.

Remember the $1 million fund-raiser in which the developers of The Vue condos were raffling off a $400,000 unit? Well, out-of-state winner Jim Roth recently shocked everyone involved when he made the fund-raiser significantly more profitable -- by donating the condo back to the charity that sold him the winning $100 ticket. Said Mark Romagosa of the beneficiary, Christian Sharing Center in Longwood: "It's like a dream come true."

TALK ABOUT A PENALTY

Now we learn that a Seminole County judge's goof-up not only sent simple traffic-law offenders to jail, but some of them also got strip-searched. And you thought they couldn't come up with a way to make traffic school look like a desirable alternative.